Quote of the Week: Docc Hilford

This week, we have another great piece of inspiration(read the previous one in here),with a quote that leads us to understand one of the core differences between Magic and Mentalism.

If you are performing Magic, and people is expecting a Magician, the implicit assumption is that the performance will fullfill expectation without space of "mistakes" or "adjustments", because we are moving in the realms of dreams and fantasies. Nobody wants an imperfect fantasy, right?

Imagine if a Card Magician takes four aces, lose them into the deck, and then only finds three of them. Bad Magician, from the audience perspective.

Mentalism is different, and a Mentalist can (and should be as Docc says) only 85% right, or at least, allowing space for real miracles and overall win/win situations. When we open the possibility of happenings, we can get either realism (by not being 100% right) or create an unexplicable miracle (even for you as performer)

Lets say that you have a method for ACAAN, but before doing it, you will do it just for real (as in the ExperiMentalism approach of performance). What if the participant doesnt name the correct number and card? You have your 100% secure method, so just adjust and flow.

This 15% of real improvisation will allow you to be extraordinary and not just ordinary. It is complex? No doubt , but just be bold and do it is the most diffiicult step. After the initial effort, everything comes easy after experience.

Remember, there are no mistakes, just feedback. If you dont feel that what happens in performance is "wrong", people will not feel it in that manner. Be genuine about this, just acting as if you are cool is not enough. You really need to manage the emotion so the reflection of that experience is not just superficial flow, but real calm and flow from the inside.

We have limited space.

If you want to add new things, you need to take off some things. Thats obvious, and in performance is not exception.

If you want to add realism to your performance, you need to try new techniques and approaches. In that manner, I am sure that you will get new moments and a very different impact that most people.

Just read this comment (from a youtube video from Docc), and you will see that this mindset of realism is really powerful

So, this week, be bold and create REAL experiences for people, creating conscious space, and embrace everything that can happen as needed.